You're Voting For Who?

I live in the Bay Area so it shouldn't come as a surprise that when asked on a number of occasions, "Are you voting for Obama?" my simple reply of, "No." was met with incredulity at best. Those who've asked the question should be thankful I used my second answer as option "A" was "It's none of your F'ing business you nosy tool!"

In less than 48 hours we’ll know if we have another 4yrs of Barack Obama in the White House or if we are going to try something different in Mitt Romney. Our election system isn’t perfect but it beats the hell out of systems in place in most of the world and the process is often fractious at best. Campaigns can and do get nasty but anyone with an honest view of history knows that this is nothing new. A lot of things, some true some not, get said about candidates. That’s just the way it goes and that’s the way it’s always been.

If you read this blog often or follow me on Twitter you’ll note that I am pretty fair in my criticism of the President. I give credit where due and endeavor to stay away from ad-hominem that some engage in and attempt, when possible to compare/contrast what the President says against what he does using factual, referencable data.

There are things about the guy that I like: 

- He is a man a faith, and like me came to his faith as an adult. 

- He has a great family and is by all account a devoted father and husband. 

- He’s a sports fan and although his allegiance is to an American League Baseball team, I’m pretty sure we’d share a common view that the Dodgers suck...see 1959. 

- He strikes me as a pretty nice guy and if he were my neighbor, I’m sure we’d get along just fine.

In matters of policy there are things he’s done that I agree with: 

- I applauded his repeal of “Don’t ask Don’t tell” and allowing the sunsetting of the Defense of Marriage Act. Two sad vestiges of the Clinton Administration that I’m happy to have seen disappear, a trend I’d hope might continue should President Obama be re-elected.

- In 2010 I applauded Obama’s extension of “The Bush Tax Cuts”. 

- Despite his campaign promise to close it down, I have consistently applauded Obama’s decision to keep GITMO well stocked with terrorist a-holes. 

- Despite his campaign promise to hold civil trials for terrorists on US soil, I applaud his decision not to do so. 

- And of course, once the CIA’s decade of effort yielded appropriately solid and actionable intelligence his decision to go ahead with the mission to dispatch Osama Bin-Laden is commendable as well.

However, there are a number of negatives regarding President Obama and his Administration that I simply cannot ignore.